1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera hand piece for a microoptical probe.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hand pieces of this kind are used for the electronic representation of microoptically generated images and their use in the medical sector is increasing, although they are also used in industrial technology.
For example, DE-199'23'122 describes a hand microscope for endoscopy, which uses the principle of the reflection of light to feed light through the microscope lens system into the area of the object. The image generated by the lens is digitized by an electronic image sensor, for example a CCD chip, and fed via appropriate connections to an evaluation unit for further processing and display. This hand microscope does not allow focusing and/or any possibility of altering the focal distance.
An endoscope with a manually operated control unit for the focusing and/or altering of the focal distance is known from DE-198'37'404 and/or DE-198'34'207. This can be operated with the thumb without having to remove the hand from the instrument. Unfortunately, this type of endoscopic instrument involves a complex mechanism that is difficult to maintain. In addition, these instruments have also proved to be extremely sensitive to temperature and cannot be easily sterilized in an autoclave.
In DE-197'18'189, it is suggested that the adjustable optical display system should be placed in its own housing section, whereby for focusing, the movable parts of the optical system mounted inside it can be moved in a rotary and/or translational manner by means of magnetic force transmission from outside with no contact involved.
Manual focusing and enlargement in all known systems leads to the displacement of images and requires further attention from the user, which is undesirable, in particular when observing medical operations.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to create a focusing camera hand piece for a microoptical probe, which is easy to maintain, i.e. has a simple construction, which is simple to clean, i.e. sterilize, and which is user friendly, i.e. does not require any particular attention from the user.